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Community Group Calls for Moratorium on Uranium Exploration in Ontario |
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Contributed by Jim Elliott
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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
Press release - Toronto, June 24
A coalition against uranium mining
today called for a moratorium on uranium exploration in Ontario until Aboriginal
land rights, and environmental and health impacts are addressed. The coalition
also called for a Royal Commission into the badly dated Ontario Mining
Act.
The call for a moratorium and a Royal Commission are two of six main
recommendations in "Staking Our Claim for a Healthy Future," a report released
today by the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium (CCAMU).
The
report grows out of a citizens' inquiry the coalition conducted into the impacts
of uranium mining and the use of uranium. The inquiry held meetings in four
Ontario towns and cities, heard 150 presentations and reviewed another 230
submissions.
"It is clear from our inquiry that Ontarians want aboriginal
land rights resolved before there is any prospecting or mining on their land,"
said Marilyn Crawford of CCAMU. "Ontarians are also very concerned about the
health and environmental impacts of uranium mining, and want a moratorium on
uranium exploration until the oudated Mining Act is reviewed."
The
Ontario Mining Act, first passed in 1873, gives prospectors unimpeded access to
private land. They can stake claims without receiving any consent and undertake
destructive practices, such as cutting trees, without any landowner consent or
compensation.
The report, written by former Toronto Mayor John Sewell,
builds on growing municipal and community concern about the Mining Act.
Councils in 20 municipalities, including Ottawa, Kingston and Peterborough and
three counties, have passed petitions calling on the Ontario government to make
substantive changes to the Mining Act and implement an immediate moratorium on
uranium exploration in Eastern Ontario. In addition, 10,000 Ontarians have
petitioned the Ontario government calling for a moratorium on uranium
exploration and mining in Eastern Ontario.
The Citizens' Inquiry was
sparked by the concerns of many groups across Ontario, including the occupation
of a uranium exploration site in the Sharbot Lake area by the Ardoch Algonquin
First Nation.
Available on request:
- Backgrounder (Two pages)
-
Staking Our Claim for A Healthy Future: Report of Citizens' Inquiry into the
Impacts of the Uranium Cycle (full report: 50 pp.)
The report will be
posted on the CCAMU website (http://www.ccamu.ca/ ) within a few hours.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 June 2008 )
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